Nahum 1:14 The Lord has given a command concerning you: "Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, For you are vile." NKJV.
God The Grave Digger
The prophet Jonah had previously been mightily, if not reluctantly, used by God to preach repentance and grace to that great city of Ninevah. The Ninevite’s response to Jonah’s reluctant proclamations then had been to repent and to accept God’s goodness and thus, God’s falling feet of judgement pounding their way toward them, had then happily been turned away. Now however, the prophet Nahum in effect says that, “Now Ninevah shall fall!” God is returning to Ninevah once more and this time, He has a shovel in His hand and the word on His very angry lips is “I’m gonna bury you!” What on earth had happened here?Do remember that a peoples past repentance does not guarantee a present grace. Repentance must be continually lived in for mercy to ever flow. There is a lesson here for individuals and for nations, for the lions of the earth and their blood-lines, can always be finally done away with. For good! For when God brings His shovel and digs for the much warned yet unrepentant a pit, then the earth He heaps upon them shall cover them forever and the wind will blow away every remnant of their once proud existence. For example, I remember when all my maps of the world at school were mostly covered with pink, indicating the breadth, depth and spread of the once great British Empire. Selah.
There are two marked contrasts about God presented to us in this book of Nahum and the fact that God is the God of the whole earth and that all nations are therefore accountable to both Him and His laws is the basis of this reactive contrast.
First if we as nations obey God and seek to follow Him and honour Him then this attitude and action will assure for the obedient nation concerned, both peace and prosperity; on the other hand, disobedience to His purpose and disregard of His rule and laws, will bring catastrophe to that nation and on its heals a most terrible judgement. Do you see the reactive contrast? To the nation seeking to obey Him, God is a rock and a refuge, a God of goodness carrying a basket of goodies. However, to the nation that disobeys Him and in the so doing “does the dirty” on those seeking to follow Him, then He a jealous avenger, clothed from top to tail in the black suit of the undertaker, striding angrily across the mountains of doom, carrying a shovel across His judgemental shoulders. This is a terrible but simple picture and calls forth the choice of both individual and national obedience or disobedience, of life or death, even from every generation that sees it!
I look at our falling nations of the West, least not this isle of mine, and believe we are in the time of the prophet Nahum, but Oh my God! I long for the time of Jonah the prophet to come again once more and even now I still sniff the air in prayerful hope, to try and smell the vomit of the whale upon our darkened streets once more and see a stomach acid stained white prophet rise from the puked up mess and preach repentance to us once again. Though all our fishing grounds are empty, maybe God has a few of His own great fish still hidden in His deeps? Maybe these will carry some reluctant prophets to come to these beleaguered shores once more and preach righteousness, sin, coming judgement and repentance in Jesus to us again. I hope so. I pray so. Maybe some of you should do so.
Listen:- Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Acts 16:6-10 NKJV
Pray:- Lord help us all by sending Jonah's to our shores once more. Amen!
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